


Sentinel

by Dr_Snakes_MD



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:34:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29991867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Snakes_MD/pseuds/Dr_Snakes_MD
Summary: A moment's hesitation irrevocably changes Anakin Skywalker's fate. Now, he walks the path of legends in order to balance the Force as the Galactic Empire's most wanted man.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 9
Kudos: 28





	Sentinel

**Author's Note:**

> Yet another plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone.

* * *

_On the mountain peak within himself, he weighed Padme’s life against the Jedi Order._

_It was no contest._

_He said, “Yes.”_

_“Yes to what, my boy?”_

_“Yes, I want your knowledge.”_

_“Good. Good!”_

_“I want your power. I want the power to stop death.”_

_“That power only my Master truly achieved, but together we will find it. The Force is strong with you, my boy. You can do_ anything _.”_

Wait _._

* * *

This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker right now.

You have just saved your friend from murder at the hands of the Jedi Council. What they were doing was wrong and you know it.

You cut mace Windu’s hand from his body and watched as Sidious blasted him from the room with lightning.

You don’t feel guilt. You don’t feel remorse; not anymore, the power within that Sidious showed you far outweighs everything else now.

Everything except the words he’s pouring in your ears like warm honey.

You look upon the man who’s been your mentor since nearly the moment you stepped foot on Coruscant and that revulsion at _hisfacehiseyeshissenseintheForce_ reasserts itself. You didn’t care about it a moment ago when he was promising the power to save Padme, but then he spoke.

_“…but together we will find it.”_

You realize immediately that he doesn’t know how to stop Padme from dying, that he must have killed his Master before the secret could be passed on.

You remember Dooku onboard the _Invisible Hand_ , his face contorted by betrayal in the final moments before you took his head.

You know, instinctively, that betrayal is the way of the Sith. The Force tells you this calmly.

You realize with startling certainty that you’ve been deceived.

You remember Kit Fisto’s severed head on the desk. You remember the smell of scorched flesh. You remember that Saesee Tinn and Agen Kolar had come with Master Windu as well.

You didn’t even see their bodies.

You realize that you just pledged allegiance to the Sith. To the people who’d killed Qui-gon on Naboo. To the people who’d taken your arm. To the people who’d orchestrated the grand farce of a war you’d fought in the past three years.

To the one responsible for all the pain you, Padme, Obi-wan, Rex and Fives and the rest of the 501st, Ahsoka, the entire _Galaxy_ have felt.

Reality crashes back into you with the fury of Tatooine’s twin suns.

* * *

Anakin’s blade was relit and arcing for the shadow in front of him before he’d even consciously registered the movement. Pure, unadulterated horror coursed through him at his own actions, so much so that he barely registered Sidious spinning away.

“What are you doing, Anakin?” the shadow snarled. Gone was the placid old man, the facsimile of benevolence and understanding. He stared at Sidious stripped bare of the promises he’d just made and all he saw was darkness.

“What I should have done before,” Anakin replied, voice steady through some willpower he hadn’t known he possessed. He almost opened his mouth to beg Sidious to stand down, but the words died in his throat. Windu had placed him under arrest and gotten a chest full of lightning for his efforts. As much as it broke him, Anakin knew there would be no surrender.

“You would place the _Jedi_ above your wife’s life?” the shadow asked.

Anakin shook his head and brought his lightsaber up and back into Djem So. He dove for that feeling of clarity before his realization and let his fury take over. “You just admitted you don’t know how to save her. You lied. You killed four Jedi Masters. I won’t let you kill anyone else.”

Sidious paused, the rippling shadow that he was coalescing into the familiar robed form. Ochre eyes considered him from within their sunken sockets. “They will never accept you. Not now, not after you helped me kill Mace Windu. You _know_ this.” He shook his head. “Do not throw away your chance to save Padme’s life, Anakin. The Dark Side is power unlimited. I _promise you_ , together we will find the way.”

It would have cowed him a day before, an hour before, even _minutes_ before. But the Force spoke to him. _“Treachery is the way of the Sith,”_ it told him, and he knew it to be true. Beyond his fear, beyond his revulsion, beyond his betrayal, he knew it to be true.

Sidious must have seen something in him in that moment, for he said, “So be it,” and Windu’s lightsaber leapt into his palm a glowing amethyst.

* * *

Anakin was one of the most talented duelists in the Order before the Clone Wars. After three years of nothing but sparring with Obi-wan and Ahsoka, combat missions, and clashes with various Sith acolytes, that talent had been honed to a razor sharp edge.

He dove into Djem So with ease, calling the Force to him and leaping forward with his blade cocked back for a perfect Falling Avalanche opening. His lightsaber descended at speed, making for Sidious’s head, but the shadow slipped sideways and suddenly he was on the defensive.

Deflecting a sweeping slash of amethyst coming for his throat, Anakin backpedaled away from shifting darkness that struck out at him. A reflexive Force-push tossed aside a piece of art making for his knee. A negligent swipe of his blade bisected an incense burner on its way to his face.

Immediately, he realized this was nothing like his duel with Dooku. The former Jedi Master had fought ferociously within the bounds of Makashi, his mastery elegant and apparent. What other tricks he brought to bear were few and far between, distractions to separate Anakin and Obi-wan in the heat of battle. He bent the rules a touch here and there, but it was a duel first and foremost.

Sidious played by no rules.

Anakin lashed out with Force-push to throw Sidious off balance only to have it turned back against him a split second later. A desperate push behind him saved him from crashing into the far wall, and he rolled under a slash that would’ve cut him in two. He brought his fury to bear and lashed out in a display of raw power that knocked all the remaining furniture to the edges of the room, but only managed to push the tendrils of darkness a few feet.

He needed a new strategy.

He caught a bolt of lightning on his lightsaber and deflected the energy up into the ceiling on reflex. Sidious hurled himself at him, flying at speed on wings of shadow, and Anakin, with a burst of insight, stepped forward rather than back. His anger – at the betrayal of his friend, at the lies, at his own folly – gave him a wellspring of strength. He stepped inside Sidious’ guard, too close to be touched by Mace Windu’s blade, and lashed out with his mechanical arm.

Durasteel met sunken flesh as Anakin leveled Sidious with a Force-enhanced punch that sent him rocketing back. Thinking quickly – he had to contain him – he called a sofa and a chair from either side of the flailing shadow and sent them careening toward where Sidious would end up.

The Force suffusing him like never before, Anakin dashed forward, lightsaber in a reverse grip. A blast of raw darkness cast aside the furniture, but it was enough. Sidious had no escape and was forced to lock blades lest Anakin run him through. Anakin stepped back and slashed high, cutting off an aerial escape, and kicked out.

He caught Sidious in the chest and shoved him back into the wall. Bringing his lightsaber up, he leaned into yet another Falling Avalanche and brought the blade down once, twice, three times in succession, letting the rage fuel his strikes. Anakin felt the Force around him twist as Sidious’s fear became palpable. He was outmatched.

Snarling in triumph, he reached back, into the Force, for the strength to shatter the amethyst lightsaber and bury his lightsaber in Sidious in one fell stroke, only to be _hurled_ backward by a concussive strike that came from nowhere.

He had the presence of mind to throw the Force behind him at an angle, so he was sent careening into the wall to the right of where Sidious’ desk had been instead of out the window to his death. Anakin felt the wind knocked from his lungs at the impact, and barely managed to get his lightsaber up in time to halt the lightning that speared toward him.

Sidious had dropped Windu’s lightsaber to the floor and both of his hands spewed crackling energy. A small bolt snaked around Anakin’s defense and crashed into his mechanical arm. He jolted, the strength of the blast not enough to truly do damage, but he felt, with a sudden spike of dread, his control of the durasteel disappear. It slipped from gripping his lightsaber and fell uselessly to his side.

Waves of opaque darkness ripped forth from Sidious’ advancing form, hammering into Anakin with near-physical force. “Foolish boy,” the shadow’s voice spoke aloud and in Anakin’s mind simultaneously. Dread coursed through him as he gritted his teeth against the onslaught. “Did you _truly_ think you had the strength to stand against me? I am the legacy of Darth Bane, the culmination of a thousand years of Sith planning! You are nothing but a child too afraid of true power to reach out and take it as your own.”

Anakin’s resolve cracked against the oppressive, unrelenting darkness that hammered him. His eyes flew wide as visions of Padme writhing under lightning flashed through his mind. He blinked and Padme was replaced by Obi-wan sliced in two, a flame-colored blade illuminating his dead eyes. He blinked again and Ahsoka was suspended in mid-air, hands clawing at the phantom grip that choked the life out of her.

A flash of lightning shattered the momentary nightmare. Anakin’s resolve tightened – he couldn’t let it come true, he _wouldn’t!_

He breathed deeply, ozone burning his nostrils, and the Force rushed in. With a great heave, Anakin shoved the lightning back at Sidious, ducked to his right, and tweaked his mechanical arm with a thought. The polarity reversed and it snapped back to life not a moment too soon. His lightsaber came up and deflected lightning into the Coruscant night. The kinetic force pushed him back a step, and he felt the edge of glass against his boot heel.

Focusing harder than he ever had before, Anakin reached out and grabbed the remnants of the desk which had been blasted into shards. He hurled them at Sidious in a desperation move that managed to attract enough of the bolts to give him a breather.

His mind whirled, plans formed and discarded at the speed of thought yet still not fast enough. Panic had begun to set in; for all that he was greater – far greater – with a lightsaber, Sidious’ control of the Dark Side outstripped his ability to counteract. For all his raw power, all his _strength_ , the darkness he fought grew with every blow he landed.

 _You can do this!_ Anakin screamed at himself. _You_ have _to do this! You’re the_ Chosen-one!

In the eye of the storm of his own creation, Sidious cackled. “ _Chosen-one_ ,” he sneered, voice still echoing in Anakin’s mind. The blood in his veins turned to ice as Anakin realized his thoughts were being broadcast like he was linked into the Holonet. “You cling to a millennia-old prophecy to shield yourself from the truth.”

 _Sith don’t speak truth_.

“Don’t I? Haven’t I always? What use do I have for lies when the greatest power in the universe is at my fingertips?” Sidious asked.

Anakin stepped sideways, attempting to get his back away from the kilometer fall behind him, and it was his undoing. The lightning _shifted_ , parting around his guard for a split second he didn’t anticipate, and suddenly his lightsaber was hurled backward into the night.

He reached out on reflex alone as if to catch the lightning with his hands, calling the Force to him like he never had before and, for a moment, it worked. Anakin saw surprise register in Sidious’ orange eyes for a moment between moments before his control slipped. A wave of agony that outstripped anything he’d ever felt shocked his system. His skin was on fire, his nerves had been dipped in lava, his very being entered the core of a dying star for a second that felt like an eternity.

And then it disappeared. He dropped to a knee, his mechanical arm – glove burned away – catching his weight before he could collapse completely.

“The truth, Chosen-one, is that you never stood a chance,” Sidious told him. “You never could have, for you were the creation of the Sith ourselves.” He chuckled as Anakin raised shocked eyes to him. “A grand experiment conducted by Darth Plagueis and myself. The creation of life from the Dark Side of the Force.”

“You lie!” It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be _possible_.

“Search your feelings, Anakin,” Sidious said, a malicious mirror of Obi-wan’s enduring advice. “What does the Force tell you?”

He dove into the ever-present wellspring he’d known for as long as he could remember. He asked, _begged_ it for the truth; for the words to contradict the monster in front of him.

And the Force was silent.

“So you see,” the shadow soothed. “You born from Darkness; I _made_ you. You know it to be true.” He stepped forward, the shadows about him disappearing into nothingness and leaving only Sidious, ochre-eyes aglow in the dark. A grey, gnarled hand reached out and cupped Anakin’s chin gently. “We need not be enemies, my friend. Everything I’ve shown you, everything you _want_ is within your grasp should you but reach out and _take it_. The power to end this conflict, to bring peace, and to save your wife is _yours_. It is your birthright, Anakin.”

“Rise as my apprentice, and together we shall rule this galaxy.”

Anakin trembled as the vision of the future unfolded in his mind. He saw the Jedi’s taint purged from the galaxy; the Senate’s corruption expunged; slavery ended, the yoke of the Hutts and Zygerrian’s overthrown at last; laws passed and enforced without the chains of bureaucracy weighing them down. He saw peace, freedom, justice, and security brought to the galaxy in his name.

 _Treachery is the way of the Sith_.

The Force was silent in his ears, but he knew it to be true.

“No,” Anakin said. “I’ll never join you.”

Sidious’ face contorted in rage, but Anakin didn’t give him the chance to strike. He reached blindly to where he knew the Force should be despite its quiet, called it to him, and it answered.

He threw both of his hands out and _pushed._ His ears popped as the Force, blinding and present and _there,_ plowed into Sidious and hurled him backward. Sidious screamed as he called Darkness to him, liquid shadow bleeding from him into the destroyed office, and Anakin knew his fight was lost.

He couldn’t win.

But he wouldn’t let Sidious win either.

He wouldn’t turn and wouldn’t give Sidious the satisfaction of destroying him.

Anakin paused, watched the seething tendrils of hatred and fury reach for him, and felt his mind settle into a clarity the likes of which he’d never felt before. He sprung backward, Coruscant’s cool night air tickling the skin of his neck, and fell.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Italicized words at the beginning are taken from Matthew Stover's RotS novelization. Read it if you haven't yet.


End file.
